Stories from Tuesday, November 3, 1998

It's Election Day. The Internet, with its instant access to information and fast changing nature, is perfect for election night results. At the newspaper, we used the Internet as a backup and to double-check election returns, and we plan to do the same tonight...

SCOTT CITY -- Becky Simmons doesn't remember considering any other career options as a child. As a young girl she enjoyed attending and teaching pretend classes, and by 9 she began telling people she had selected her career path. "Most people change their minds many times before making a career decision, but I've just always known that I would be a teacher," she said...

Allison Wolz, 6, wants to be a teacher so she can spread a little knowledge and happiness. "It's fun, and you can teach a lot of stuff," said the first-grader from Carol Reimann's class at Clippard Elementary School. For the next two months, the Southeast Missourian, along with first-graders, is exploring occupations...

Diane LeGrand watched one of her students, Kaylen Knepp, spell a word on the blackboard. Dennis Thomas worked on a spelling lesson as Diane LeGrand checked his progress. Visual aides help students learn about weather in Diane LeGrand's classroom. Being a teacher is an ongoing learning process...

A handful of children gleefully slid head-first down the colorful, plastic slide Monday at Southeast Missouri State University's new Child Enrichment Center. The campus center, housed in the Scully Building, opened Monday with 19 children enrolled, ages 3 to 5...

The Missouri Republican Party plans to use cameras today to monitor polling areas for possible vote fraud despite U.S. Justice Department concerns over a similar videotaping plan in North Carolina. North Carolina's plan to allow Republicans to videotape voters on Election Day might violates the Voting Rights Act, the U.S. Justice Department said...

The camel college is coming to Cape Girardeau. The city has been selected as the site for the first-ever North American Camel Conference, a six-day event, starting Thursday, featuring expert camel doctors and camel trainers. "The purpose of the event is to expand the knowledge of everyone connected with the camel industry," said Dave Hale of 5-H Ranch, home to about 50 camels north of Cape Girardeau...

The Cape Girardeau City Council unanimously approved an agreement with Southeast Missouri State University Monday to jointly develop a visual and performing arts facility. The proposed River Campus, as it is being called, would be built on the site of the former St. Vincent's Seminary on Morgan Oak Street. The university purchased the property last spring...

The Missouri Highway Patrol called the drunken-driving problem in Cape Girardeau "serious" and "alarming" after 23 people were arrested in a five-hour period at a sobriety checkpoint. In a joint sobriety checkpoint effort begun Saturday night and continuing into Sunday morning, the Highway Patrol, Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department and Cape Girardeau police stopped about 500 vehicles on Morgan Oak near the Mississippi River bridge...

Sure, you can buy chewing gum that helps fight nicotine addictions, but curing a cold or boosting your memory? An abundance of press releases and junk mail make their way into a newsroom daily. Most get filed away for future reference, which means that they pile up on reporters' desks until the annual cleaning spree...

The City of Roses Chapter of the American Business Women's Association will be held Thursday at the Drury Lodge in Cape Girardeau. Joannie Smith of the Christmas Cabin will present the program, and Shirlene Krewson of KFVS will be vocational speaker...

Missouri Sen. John Ashcroft was in Cape Girardeau last week, touting what he calls his "New Beginning" plan for reform of the federal tax code. Ashcroft says Americans are burdened by high taxes and by a tax system that is unfair and out of control. The senator says the average two-income family pays 38 percent of its income in taxes and works until May 10 to pay all taxes at the federal, state and local levels...

To the editor: As a local girl growing up in Jackson, I always appreciated the opportunities that Southeast Missouri State University provided for me and my brothers to have sustained contact with the fine arts during our growing-up years. I cannot describe the joy or pride that my husband and I felt when we opened the Missourian to discover that the university was purchasing the former St. ...

To the editor: As the new River Campus and School of the Visual and Performing Arts opportunity has been discussed, the issue of student interest in the arts and the new campus's ability to draw new students has been questioned. In my position at the Office of Admissions, I study prospective student-interest data and assess Southeast's ability to compete for new students. ...

To the editor: Recent letters to the editor criticizing the university administration's handling of the River Campus issues confuse the development of the seminary property and the upcoming ballot issue with what those critics apparently perceive to be indecision or even dishonesty regarding what will happen once there. ...

The Southeast Missouri State University Sundancer team has earned another bid to the National Dance Team Championships in April. Last year, the team finished seventh in the nation. The squad finished second in the Division I competition at the NCA dance team regional camp on the Southern Methodist University campus in August. The finish earned the team another bid to the championships...

JACKSON -- If all goes well, Cape Girardeau County could solicit bids and sell bonds by the end of November for an addition to the county jail. The County Commission Monday reviewed documents necessary to put the financing in place and heard the annual audit report...

JACKSON -- Mayor Paul Sander clashed with the Jackson Board of Aldermen Monday night, but their differences were over hues and not policy. Because he lost the annual mayors' wager over the outcome of the Jackson-Cape Central football game, Sander wore an orange Central High School sweatshirt while presiding over Monday night's meeting of the Board of Aldermen. To show their support of Jackson High School, most of the board members and city staffers wore the Indians' red...

Bud Eley has added another notch to his growing resume -- that of captain for Southeast Missouri State University's basketball Indians. Eley, the Indians' 6-foot-10 center, was last week named the Ohio Valley Conference preseason Player of the Year during the league's media day in Nashville, Tenn...

Southeast Missouri State University football coach John Mumford says he refuses to concern himself with something that he cannot control. That's why Mumford says he really hasn't given a whole lot of thought to whether he will have his contract extended when the 1998 season is over. That has been a lively topic among Southeast football followers for much of the season...

Frustrating is the word Southeast Missouri State University football coach John Mumford uses to sum up the Indians' season. Speaking at his weekly media conference Monday morning, Mumford said he has no complaints with the kind of effort the Indians have put forth all season and he loves the attitude of his squad...

Funeral for Betty J. May of Cape Girardeau will be held at 1 p.m. Wednesday at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel. The Rev. Charles Lance will officiate, with burial in Forest Hills Cemetery at Morley. Friends may call at the chapel from 4-8 p.m. today...

Graveside service for Dorothy L. McBride of Cape Girardeau will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Fairmount Cemetery. The Rev. Philip Curran will officiate. Friends may call at Lorberg Memorial Funeral Chapel after 4 p.m. today, and Wednesday after 10 a.m...

ANNA, Ill. -- Funeral for Tim Gene Jones of Anna will be held at 1 p.m. Wednesday at Lutz and Rendleman Funeral Home, with the Rev. Scott Harner officiating. Burial will be in Anna Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home after 6 p.m. today. Jones, 35, died Saturday, Oct. 31, 1998, at his home...

OLMSTED, Ill. -- Lizzette Emily Forker, 94, of Benton, Ky., died Monday, Nov. 2, 1998, at Hilltop Nursing Home in Kuttawa, Ky. She was born June 26, 1904, in Red Bud, daughter of William and Carrie Lish Dagner. She married Charles Houston Forker, who died March 14, 1979...

PUXICO -- Paul Hyten, 80, of Puxico died Monday, Nov. 2, 1998, at Vintage Villa Nursing Center in Dexter. He was born Sept. 21, 1918, at Como, son of John Henry and Lillie Mae Trotter Hyten. He and Avon Keith were married March 15, 1937, at Bloomfield...

Funeral for Cora Azalea Brennan of Creve Coeur will be held at 2 p.m. today at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel. The Rev. John Gregory will officiate, with burial in Memorial Park. Friends may call at the chapel from noon to 2 p.m. Brennan, 73, died Saturday, Oct. 31, 1998, at St. John's Mercy Medical Center in Creve Coeur...

Walter A. "Wally" Sonntag, 69, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, Nov. 1, 1998, at his home, following a lengthy illness. He was born June 24, 1929, in Sheboygan, Wis., son of Joseph and Isabelle Schropp Sonntag. He and Katherine D. Sappington were married June 26, 1954, in Washington, D.C...

COBDEN, Ill. -- Alfred L. Tellor, 61, of Cobden died Sunday, Nov. 1, 1998, at his home. He was born March 9, 1937, in Jonesboro, son of Melvin Levi and Alma Fox Tellor. He and Ruth E. Pearson were married March 23, 1973, in Coldwater, Tenn. Tellor was a welder, retiring from Transcraft Corp. in Anna...

Graveside service for Lucille Leona Sutherland of Caruthersville was held Friday at Memorial Park Cemetery in Cape Girardeau. Dr. Paul Currie officiated. H.S. Smith Funeral Home in Caruthersville was in charge of arrangements. Sutherland, 95, died Wednesday, Oct. 28, 1998, at her home...

JONESBORO, Ill. -- Mary Jane Tellor, 45, of Jonesboro died Monday, Nov. 2, 1998, at her home. She was born Sept. 18, 1953, in Corpus Christi, Texas, daughter of Robert and Hazel Montgomery Robertson. She and Ron Tellor were married Jan. 30, 1997, in Union County...

Daughter to Matthew and Tracy Meyer of Valrico, Fla., Brandon Regional Hospital, 5:55 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, 1998. Name, Delaney Rose. Weight, 7 pounds 5 ounces. First child. Mrs. Meyer is the former Tracy Schaefer, daughter of Ed and Georgia Schaefer of Scott City. She is a dental hygenist for Dr. Brant Wade. Meyer is the son of Harry and Donna Meyer of Ste. Genevieve. He is operations manager at Cargill Fertilizer...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Funeral for Minnie Beatrice Wheatley of East Prairie will be held at 1 p.m. today at Shelby Funeral Chapel in East Prairie. Mike Johnson and Burl Britt will officiate, with burial in East Prairie Memorial Park Cemetery. Wheatley, 49, died Saturday, Oct. 31, 1998, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston...